**White Flag Time?** 4.8 Oil Thermostat E-Torx Mistake

[zinnoE28]

I made a mistake, and I think my story w the X5 is about to end just as it was getting interesting.

I'm stuck in the middle of a valve cover/timing cover/coolant thermostat gasket job. If you can help me, then you know what I'm about to say. It's the lower, inner bolt. It's stripped. I didn't ignore the warnings in the forum posts I printed out to guide me....but I suppose the ease in which I got those first two bolts out gave me false confidence. Anyway, it's stripped right and good. I've attempted some bolt extractors coming in from the wheel well and I just can't get anything to grip it. One post somewhere mentioned the importance of using a 1/4' E10 and not trying w a 3/8. I wish I'd listened to that. Oh well.

I'd love any thoughts. I put a torch on it for a few minutes, but it hardly got hot at all. I'm guessing the material the block is constructed with just 'ate' the heat. I've hit the bolt w a hammer (via extensions through the wheel well) and I've used more PB blaster than ever before. I cannot get my Dremel to use as a cutting wheel. I'm about to truly wave the white flag and begin parting it out....or more likely just calling Pull a Part to tow it. I have $2k into this car all-in-all and while I love it way more than I thought I would - and it has a fun story - I've got other projects, and this has been in the garage too long.

Any thoughts? The only thing I can even think of is trying to use a drill-bit bolt-extractor...but I'lll have to get creative w how I do that. I don't believe there's enough room accessing above the head for a 90-degree drill adaptor...but perhaps I try anyway? I also haven't pulled off the power steering pump. Maybe if I did I could get a better angle with some pliers? I think that's probably not the case....but again, am open to interesting ideas. One thing I'm not in a position to do is yank out the entire motor. At least....I don't think I am. That's beyond anything I've done before.

I'm open to anything at this point. While I'm not against trying to finish the valve/timing cover job, putting the two E-Torx bolts back on and taking it to a shop....I found no shop wanting to work on it BEFORE I stripped the bolt. Also, I'm unsure it's worth putting money into. Beyond the oil leaks, it also needs the battery issue figured out, the transmission needs the solenoids/fluid job done and even then it may have other issues. When I bought it, as much as anything I wanted to know if I liked the idea of an X5 - and the answer is yes. I'll be looking for another E70 almost right away. This one is fully loaded so I may just strip the interior (it has the best seats and the dark headliner) and look for a 35d. But I'd like to know I tried everything I could on this one before moving on.

So that's that. Would love any thoughts, advice or whatever. Also ready for anyone to poke fun at me. I mean....I can't believe I did this. Unbelievably I have two BMW V8's right now (a 540iT E39 manual swap as well) and I've decided I need to stick to the classic straights or snag that diesel when I have the itch for something different.

Anyway, I hate that this is my first post. I hope it's not my last, lolz.